It is only fair

My favorite definition of illiteracy is as follow[1]: the ignorance resulting from not reading.

While there are many other definitions, this is by far the best one in my opinion. But then I thought that it might be necessary to clearly define ignorance, so I went in search of a good definition and found this one from the Random House[1]: the fact of being ignorant, lack of knowledge, learning, information, etc.

With these definitions in mind than illiteracy is ignorance, which is further defined as having a lack of knowledge, I buy that. Therefore, it would seem that we cure illiteracy through education and personal choice. Our public education system is in place to satisfy this mission. This is not to say that our public education system is perfect today, it is not. It is also not to say that young children, under the age of twelve, have the capacity to make the personal choice to gain knowledge and thus correct their own ignorance, they obviously do not. However, their parents do have this capacity and all too often make a choice not to employ it.

Children learn by rote and observation. If they observe their primary role models, their parents, never reading a book or newspaper then those children will never place a value on literacy. If they are never forced to learn their alphabet through memorization than there will never come a time when they will understand or be able to replicate the sounds of the letters. Rote and observation. It is simple to blame the public education system for the failures of our children to overcome illiteracy but parents are the first bastion of learning and thus are in fact the first point of failure.

Illiteracy is truly a failure to thrive within a society that demands more than the ability to perform basic tasks or follow simple instructions. We applaud a child who is able to play increasingly violent video games as if this ability proves their computer literacy; shouldn’t we wonder what these games are preparing them for in the future? Has anyone seen any job advertisements lately calling for expert sword fighters with super powers? There have been studies that have shown that doctors, especially orthopedics’ who grew up during the 80’s and 90’s playing the early video games have an advantage because of improved hand-eye coordination; does anyone believe that they are not literate as well?

Illiteracy is the choice to remain ignorant of the world. I will go one better Illiteracy is the decision by individuals to remain stupid. I have a philosophy as follows:

Ignorance can be forgiven if it is corrected through voluntary education.

Stupid is a choice that can never be forgiven as it proves that a person has chosen to knowingly and willing decided to remain ignorant despite the availability of opportunity to correct ignorance.

Dumb is a birth defect that requires no forgiveness because it cannot be helped or changed. We should always be willing to assist those who are born dumb, as they will always teach us something about ourselves if we are willing to learn.

The public education system is failing today only in that we the public are allowing them to fail through our catatonic acceptance of sub-par performance. We cannot expect the public system of education to perform better if we do not hold them to a higher standard. We are so busy worrying about whether there is prayer in schools, whether we teach creationism next to accepted scientific fact, whether we satisfy religious fervor by not providing human biology and sexuality; we are so focused on the inconsequential that we are failing to correct the real problem. The real problem lest no one has noticed is rampant illiteracy.

My version of illiteracy encompasses far more than the ability to read and write with some degree of competency. I would like a high school graduate to identify the all of the states in this country and where they are on a map. It would really impress me if they knew where Europe was and why it was important. I would like them to know the wars that we have fought since becoming a nation and why. I would like them performing complex mathematics beyond calculating the discount at a sale. Somehow, I believe literacy means that a person can communicate beyond the latest Paris Hilton gossip or the most recent Lost episode. Literacy to me means that a person is able to think; that they have cognitive thinking capabilities and are actually able to debate issues with competency.

We cannot simply leave literacy or illiteracy with the ability to read and write. It most go beyond that today. The nature of global competitiveness requires that our children learn to function at a higher level of literacy than ever before. We must change or definition or fail our children and ultimately fail as a nation.

As a nation we must return to a system of meritocracy; yes I said it reward for excellence and recognition for the best and brightest. We must stop convincing ourselves that every child must be recognized and rewarded simply for attending class each day. Little Johnny and Little Jane must start to understand that the world is a hard place and if they want to succeed, they must work at being successful. Not everyone can be picked first or be first in the class. There is no shame in intelligence and we must stop shaming those who demonstrate excellence. Our educators must be held to the highest standard possible and they in turn must be free to recognize those students who demonstrate excellence.

We were once a nation of innovators, inventors, scientists, explorers, free thinkers; we were once a nation that others looked up to as a shinning light of freedom and hope. To achieve that status again we must start with our children and their education. We must demand excellence and be willing to pay for it. We must refuse to accept mediocrity in our educators, in our elected officials, and yes in and for our children.

[1] Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006